README.md

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ A working mobile-first bowel diary with an optional **photo-first AI assist**:
 
 - [Product roadmap and live Gitea epic map](ROADMAP.md)
 - [Product and safety boundary](PRODUCT.md)
+- [Product boundary and release authority decision](docs/PRODUCT-DECISIONS.md)
 - [Self-hosted stool-vision decision](research/SELF-HOSTED-STOOL-VISION.md)
 
 ## Build a gated review release

docs/PRODUCT-DECISIONS.md

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# Product Boundary and Release Authority Decision
+
+- **Status:** Accepted
+- **Date:** 2026-08-20
+- **Scope:** Photo-assisted bowel logging and release governance
+
+## Context
+
+Timmy can make a conservative visual suggestion from a user-selected image, but the available general-purpose model is not clinically validated. The product must preserve manual logging, deterministic red-flag escalation, and user control regardless of model availability or output.
+
+## Decision
+
+### Observable AI fields
+
+AI may suggest only:
+
+- visible Bristol form (Types 1–7);
+- broad color;
+- image quality.
+
+Every suggestion is provisional, may abstain, and requires user review or correction before it can enter the journal. Symptoms remain user-entered, and journal saving is separate from training contribution consent.
+
+### Prohibited inferences
+
+AI must not infer or claim disease, bleeding, pain, urgency, fever, vomiting, treatment, causation, or whether a food is safe. It must not replace professional care, suppress deterministic red-flag escalation, or present a suggestion as a diagnosis.
+
+### Release authority
+
+Hermes/Timmy is the release authority for routine engineering, test, build, deployment, and release-candidate preparation. Automated evidence must remain reproducible and must not overstate model accuracy or safety.
+
+### Human gates
+
+Human gates are limited to:
+
+1. clinical and privacy review when language or policy crosses those boundaries;
+2. beta consent before participation;
+3. RC approval before shipping a release candidate.
+
+Routine provisioning, deployment, label sweeps, and release-candidate assembly are not human-operated gates.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- Model output is assistive and fail-closed, never authoritative.
+- A generic open-weight VLM can support bootstrap experiments but cannot become the production Bristol classifier without the documented calibration and evaluation evidence.
+- Release evidence and demonstrations must use fictional or synthetic data and state the non-diagnostic boundary honestly.
+
+## Evidence and governing references
+
+- [Product brief and safety boundary](../PRODUCT.md)
+- [AI execution evidence](../AI-EVIDENCE.md)
+- [Sovereign vision decision and measured limitations](../research/SELF-HOSTED-STOOL-VISION.md)

package.json

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
-    "test": "node --test tests/domain.test.js tests/analysis.test.js tests/vision-service.test.js tests/vision-config.test.js tests/training-ingest.test.js tests/ci-workflow.test.js tests/release-demo.test.js",
+    "test": "node --test tests/domain.test.js tests/analysis.test.js tests/vision-service.test.js tests/vision-config.test.js tests/training-ingest.test.js tests/ci-workflow.test.js tests/product-decisions.test.js tests/release-demo.test.js",
     "test:ui": "node tests/ui.acceptance.mjs",
     "test:photo": "node tests/photo-first.acceptance.mjs",
     "check:syntax": "node --check app.js && node --check server.mjs && node --check service-worker.js && node --check src/analysis.js && node --check src/domain.js && node --check src/vision-config.js && node --check src/vision-service.js && node --check scripts/record_release_demo.mjs && bash -n scripts/run_selfhost_smolvlm.sh && python3 -m py_compile scripts/ingest_training_photo.py scripts/build_release.py",

scripts/record_release_demo.mjs

@@ -97,10 +97,11 @@ await caption('The photo stays unsaved until explicit consent', 1300);
 await page.locator('#ai-consent').check();
 await tap('#analyze-photo', 500);
 await page.getByText(/83% confidence/i).waitFor();
-await caption('Timmy suggests only visible form and broad color', 1500);
+await caption('AI may suggest visible form, broad color, and image quality — never symptoms or diagnosis', 1900);
 await tap('#use-suggestion', 600);
 await caption('Nothing persists until the user reviews or corrects it', 1500);
 await page.locator('[data-type="4"]').scrollIntoViewIfNeeded();
+await caption('Release gates: clinical/privacy review, beta consent, and RC approval', 1800);
 await sleep(700);
 await page.evaluate(() => {
   document.querySelector('#demo-caption')?.remove();

tests/product-decisions.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import test from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+
+const decisionPath = new URL('../docs/PRODUCT-DECISIONS.md', import.meta.url);
+
+test('product decision record fixes the AI boundary and release authority', async () => {
+  const decision = await readFile(decisionPath, 'utf8');
+
+  assert.match(decision, /Observable AI fields[\s\S]*Bristol form[\s\S]*broad color[\s\S]*image quality/i);
+  assert.match(decision, /Prohibited inferences[\s\S]*disease[\s\S]*bleeding[\s\S]*pain[\s\S]*urgency[\s\S]*fever[\s\S]*vomiting[\s\S]*food/i);
+  assert.match(decision, /Hermes\/Timmy[\s\S]*release authority/i);
+  assert.match(decision, /Human gates[\s\S]*clinical and privacy review[\s\S]*beta consent[\s\S]*RC approval/i);
+  assert.match(decision, /\.\.\/PRODUCT\.md/);
+  assert.match(decision, /\.\.\/AI-EVIDENCE\.md/);
+  assert.match(decision, /\.\.\/research\/SELF-HOSTED-STOOL-VISION\.md/);
+});

tests/release-demo.test.js

@@ -9,5 +9,7 @@ test('release demo visibly explains the CI-protected browser path without overst
 
   assert.match(demo, /Automated checks replay this synthetic path before review/);
   assert.match(demo, /tests\/fixtures\/synthetic-type4\.jpg/);
+  assert.match(demo, /AI may suggest visible form, broad color, and image quality — never symptoms or diagnosis/);
+  assert.match(demo, /Release gates: clinical\/privacy review, beta consent, and RC approval/);
   assert.match(demo, /Visual assistance — never a diagnosis\./);
 });